A reprise run for Julia Child play 'To Master the Art'

"To Master the Art," William Brown and Doug Frew's biographical drama about the life and work of the famed culinary icon Julia Child, is to have a reprise commercial engagement at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago this fall.

The piece, which stars Karen Janes Woditsch as Child and Craig Spidle as her husband Paul, was first seen at the Timeline Theatre in 2010, under Brown's direction. Most of the piece takes place in Paris during the 1950s.

The producers of the new engagement is the Chicago Commercial Collective, a small and mostly untested company with local investors that aims to give hits from the non-profit theater world a future in Chicago and beyond. TimeLine Theatre Company originally commissioned the play.

The veracity and charm of Woditsch's performance as Child was greatly admired in 2010; reviews for the play itself were mixed, although producer Brian Loevner said Brown and Frew are revising the script for the new production.

Performances at the Broadway Playhouse, 175 E. Chestnut Ave, are slated to begin Sept. 10, with an opening night yet to be determined. Broadway in Chicago is marketing the show as part of its 2013 subscription season.